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Squib
A Squib, also known as a wizard-born '''or '''a wizard without magic, is a non-magical person who is born to at least one magical parent. Squibs are, in essence, "wizard-born Muggles". They are rare and are looked upon with a degree of disdain by some witches and wizards, particularly purebloods. Muggleborn witches and wizards are descended from Squibs who married Muggles: the magical ability unexpectedly resurfaces after many generations. A wizard or witch child would typically show signs of magical abilities at seven years old; any such child who does not is leaning on being a Squib (though they are possibly late-bloomers). Squibs are rare, even just one being born into a family. Difference from Muggles In addition to being born into magical rather than Muggle families, Squibs are different from Muggles by their knowledge of the wizarding world. They are able to see things that are hidden from the Muggles. Squibs should also be contrasted with the Muggle relatives of witches and wizards. Muggle parents, siblings, spouses etc. are simply Muggles who happen to know about the magical world. Despite the differences between Squibs and Muggles they usually have a stronger affinity with each other than with wizards. For obvious reasons, Squibs usually lead Muggle lifestyles, and are known to be sent to Muggle schools. Some voluntarily choose to cut themselves off from the wizarding world altogether. Others live as allies to wizardkind and others, living somewhere in the middle, choose to work with wizards but are not very neighbourly to them. Attitudes towards Squibs The Ministry of Magic does not keep records of Squib births, a sign of wizard society's general disregard for them. They can, however, check if a person is a Squib using their parents' names. The common practise with Squibs is to send them off to Muggle schools as children and encourage them to integrate with the Muggle community, which is much kinder than letting them live in the magical world where they will always be treated as second-class citizens. Some, however, choose to remain in the wizarding world regardless. Some pureblood families disown any Squib members and remove them from their family trees. Even families that are tolerant of Muggles and Muggleborns seem to regard Squibs poorly. Also, many wizarding families are anxious to see early signs of magical ability and are upset by the prospect that a member might be a Squib. Some magical families would often blame any Muggle parents for a Squib's birth, however, the wizarding world did set up at least one organisation to support Squibs, called Society for the Support of Squibs. The Vindication has researched into giving squibs back their magic. The way to do this is by having the squib kill the (muggleborn) wizard who "stole" their magic. This is only successful if done by the squib with a special knife, as seen during Eleanor Selwyn's killing of Esmeralda Dragyn. The Vindication plans to do as much of this as they can, because they believe that squibs deserve magic more than muggleborns do. Pleasant Prefects Squibs